Cigfa is presented in the medieval Welsh narrative tradition as the daughter of Gwyn Glohoyw (lineaged as "Cigfa, daughter of Gwyn Glohoyw, son of Gloyw Walltlydan, son of Casnar Wledig") and as the wife of Pryderi of Dyfed. The sources portray her as a mortal member of Pryderi's household rather than a supernatural being. She appears in the sequence of events in which Pryderi departs for Ireland and later when Dyfed is struck by enchantment; during the afflicted years she remains with Manawydan, who promises to protect her while Pryderi and Rhiannon are absent. Scholarly commentary records her as a later-added or minor domestic figure in the tale in some interpretations, but the primary manuscripts consistently present her as Pryderi's wife and a participant in the Third Branch narrative.
Medieval and modern summaries of the Mabinogi provide no physical description of Cigfa: the extant passages and translations consulted do not specify height, hair, dress, or other distinguishing bodily features. Rather than being depicted by bodily detail, Cigfa is represented through her social position and manners within the royal household (a wife of Pryderi and companion to Manawydan) and through narrative references to her lineage. The sources therefore frame her appearance primarily in terms of status and relational role rather than described physical traits.
The sources assign no supernatural powers, magic, or extraordinary abilities to Cigfa. She is portrayed as a mortal wife and companion whose narrative function is social and relational: remaining with Manawydan during the blighting of Dyfed, sharing the household hardship, and thus serving to illustrate Manawydan's virtues—particularly chastity, perseverance, and protective duty—by the way he conducts himself toward and in care of her. Cigfa does not perform enchantments nor is she described as the recipient of exclusive ritual attention in the surviving summaries and translations.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]Cigfa (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, entry 'Cigfa'wiki
- [2]Manawydan, the son of Llyr: The Third Medieval Welsh Tale of the Mabinogi. Translation/summary of the Third Branch (Manawydan fab Llyr)literary
- [3]Cigfa (ancienttexts / Mary Jones site). Summary entry on Cigfaliterary
- [4]The legend of Pryderi (archive). Collected edition/summary concerning Pryderi and related talesliterary
- [5]Cigfa (ancienttexts). Summary and notes on Cigfa and related materialsliterary